MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' new waste management scheme gets the green light

The waste management compound was approved but much yet depends on the type of incinerator and the chimney

The revised scheme for the new Waste Management Facility has been approved by the Planning and Building Committee. The new plans are for a waste management facility including a household waste tipping area, a public waste center, an incinerator with a 30-meter high chimney and ash collection bay, and a waste storage area.

The new facility will be built at the Megabid/Old Bitumen Plant area, just off the Airport Road. The proposal outlined in the Planning Office report to the committee, “is intended to provide for two waste streams, both collected waste (the household waste in refuse lorries and commercial waste in skip lorries/tippers) and waste from members of the public bringing it to site themselves.”

The building will be approximately 70m by 29m at the widest point. “The public would drive into the building towards the western end of the north elevation,” the proposal states. “They would be expected to separate their waste into the six tipping bays, such as for timber, metal,

hazardous and other waste, which would then be recycled, incinerated and go to Mary Hill or landfill.”

The report goes on to say: “The proposal would result in a much-reduced need for the current landfill sites at Eliza Cove and MaryHill, which are environmentally poor.”

One note of caution was struck, however. “At present, there is limited information regarding the detailed management of the proposed facilities, which would, in turn, determine the detailed composition of emissions from the incinerator, pollution risks, likely noise levels, and other detailed impacts such as from external lighting.

“This is mainly because the exact model of the incinerator is not yet known and detailed design work in advance of this is therefore limited.”

The proposal was passed unanimously by the committee